DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY No. 120 WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1894 metadc957834 UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY J. W. POWELL, )IRECTOR THE DEVONIAN SYSTEM OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW YORK BY CHARLES S. PROSSER WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1894 CONTE NTS. Page. Letter of transmittal--------------------------------.---..----.. -----.--....... x Outline of this paper--------------.-.----.----------------..-----..------- 1 Introduction-------....------------.------------------- ------ --------- 2 Stroudsburg, Monroe County, Pa---------------.------------------------- 3 Gravel Place, Monroe County, Pa.........--.-----------.... ----............. 5 Brodhead Creek section-------.......----....................... --.......... 6 Pocono Creek section------- ------ ------------------------------------- 15 L ehigh R iver section .................- ...................................- ...- 17 Marshalls Creek section-------- ------ ------- ---------------.---..----. 20 Sections of the Bushkill creeks - ---------.-------.------------------------ 25 Sections near Dinghmans, Pike Co., Pa---.------- ------------------------- 29 Sections near Milford, Pike Co., Pa.......--.-.-----------------------------------33 Sections near Port Jervis, N. Y............................................... 39 Delaware River section.......------------------------------------------40 Neversink River section. ..------------------------------------------------ 45 Section along the Ulster and Delaware R. R-................---............ 51 Sections in the Catskill mountains. -- --.-.......--........................... 65 Conclusion .--...- -.....---------- . ----............-...-... 70 ILLUSTRATIONS. Page. PLATE 1. Geolojical stations in eastern Pennsylvania and New York..Frontispiece. Ii. a. Archbeopteris obtusa Lx., Catskill, Phonicia, Ulster County, N. Y. b. Detail of pinnule between the ultimate pinn a in same specimen e. Detail of pinnile of ultimate pinnme--------------------.---.. 49 Fin. 1. Stations along the Delaware, Lackawauna and Western Railroad..... 45 VII LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, Washington, D. 0., June 1, 1894. SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith for a bulletin of the Geological Survey a paper entitled 16The Devonian System of Eastern Pennsylvania and New York," by Mr. Charles S. Prosser. CHASE. D. WALCOTT, Geologist in Charge. Hou. J. W. POWELL, Director U. S. Geological Survey. Ix OUTLINE OF THIS PAPER. The following paper is an account of a field investigation of the Devonian system of eastern Pennsylvania and New York. The work was undertaken under the auspices of the U. S. Geological Survey for the purpose of comparing the formations of this region with the more typical sections of the Devonian system in central and western New York. The first field work was done in 1884, when a section was made from Port Jervis, along the line of the Monticello and Port Jervis Railroad, to Monticello, and through Sullivan County over exposures of the Catskill stage. In 1890 the various outcrops were studied along the Ulster and Delaware Railroad from Kingston to the Grand Hotel station, and along the Stony Clove and Catskill Mountain Railroad from Phcenicia to Kaaterskill and Palenville. During the following year an examination was made of the Devonian exposures along the Lehigh River, in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, along the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad across Monroe County, then northeast over the Devonian to Port Jervis, when the Delaware River section was studied, and finally from Port Jervis up the Neversink Valley to Summitville, on the New York, Ontario and Western Railroad, in Sullivan County, New York. The stratigraphy of the region was studied while thorough search was made for fossils in all the exposures examined. The collections of fossils have been carefully identified, and the data obtained in this way have been used in comparing the formations of this region with those of central New York. Such comparative study has shown d-ifferences in classification between the system used by the Pennsylvania survey and that of the New York standard series, and certain changes are suggested which will bring the correlation of the Pennsylvania section nearer that of the New York. A change of location and an accession of duties have rendered it impossible to continue this study in eastern New York and central Pennsylvania, as had been planned by the writer; consequently it is deemed best to publish now the results of this portion of the investigation. As a result of this change the paper fails to show that fullness of detail and extent of scope which was desired by the writer; but it is hoped that the contribution may be of some assistance in working out the cor- relation of the Devonian system of this region. TOPEKA, KANs., July 5, 1893. C. S. P. Bull. 120 1 1 THE DEVONIAN SYSTEM OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW YORK. BY CHARLES S. PROSSER. INTRODUCTION. By way of introduction a section will be described across the Devo. nian of the northeastern part of Monroe County, Pa., along the line of Brodhead Creek and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Rail- road. The base of this section will rest on the Corniferous limestone well exposed in a railroad cut a mile south of East Stroudsburg and the termination will b6 in the Pocono, as exposed on the Pocono Moun- tains, from Mount Pocono to the ridge northwest of Tobyhanna. STROU1)SBURG, MONROE COUNTY, PA.--1475., One mile south of East Stroudsburg the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad makes a cut through an anticlinal axis of the Cornif- erous limestone, near the center of which is the Cauda-galli grit.2 On the western side of Brodhead Creek, along the line of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad, are exposures of the Corniferous limestone which in some respects show the. folding better than those on the eastern side of the creek. A very small anticlinal fold occurs just south of the railroad bridge across McMichaePs Creek, most of the rock being eroded so that only an occasional stratum shows. Then the rocks are for a short distance covered, when the limestone again appears with a dip of 300 from 100 to 150 east of south. Under this limestone, at the north end of the bluff, are very black Marcellus shales which have been excavated in the hope of finding coal. This structure shows it to be an overturned dip of the Corniferous. South of the lime- stone the rocks are covered for about 100 feet, when an anticlinal arch of limestone is exposed along the railroad for 105 feet. If the small ridge of limestone just south of McMichael's Creek be followed a short distance southwest, an exposure of shaly limestone will be found in which fossils are abundant. (1475 .B 4.)3 'Station number shown on map (P1.!t) accompanying this bulletin. This cut is well described by Prof. White in 2d Geol. Survey Penn., Gs, pp. 119, 265, 266, where it is stated that the Corniferous limestone has a thickness of about 200 feet, and that 50 feet of the Cauda-galli grit is exposed at the center of the arch. 'This is probably the locality mentioned by Prof. White as one of the best in-Monroe County for 6 collecting Corniferous fossils (G , p. 120). On pp. 120, 121 he gives a list of eleven species from this and other localities in Monroe County. Also see paragraph on p. 266 in reference to the East Stroudsburg axis of Corniferous just south of Stroudsburg. 3 4 PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW YORK DEVONIAN. [BtTLL.120. Down the ridge, toward the iron bridge, across the creek, opposite Elizabeth street, as well as at the point where the highway turns down the creek, is a ledge of. the cherty Upper Helderberg (Cornifer- ous) limestone containing corals and a few other fossils. No. 1475 B 2-Bluish gray shales occur in McMichael's Creek, oppo- site Elizabeth street, the dip of which is between 250 and 300, one clear stratum giving 270 to 280, 200 or more west of north. The cleavage is to the south rather than to the southeast.' These shales are the transi- tion from the Corniferous limestone up into the black Marcellus, and at this point 45 feet are exposed. No fossils were found. No. 1475 B 1.-At the northeast end of the small ridge which rises a littlenorth of Scott street, Stroudsburg, is an outcrop of blackish shales.2 The ridge extends northeast and southwest, and is probably.produced by one of the small folds. The rock has the lithologic character of the Marcellus shale of New York, and the fossils given below show this correlation to be correct. Fossils are comparatively abundant in this locality, and it is one of the few places which has yielded Marcellus fossils in northeastern Pennsylvania. Prof. White stated that this is the only locality at which he found fossils abundant in the Marcellus," 3 and he provisionally identified the following genera: "Spirifer, Chonetes, Productus, Orthis, with many crinoidal fragments." 4 Of course the Chonetes is the C. mucronata and the Orthis is probably Leiorhynchus limitaris; but the forms called Spirifer5 and Productus are not so easily referred to their proper systematic position. FAUNA of No. 1475 B 1. Leiorhynchus limitaris (Van.) I all.------------------.. -----.-------------- (aa) Chonetes m ucronata H all ......-- .-- .-- ..- ....- ..- .-- .-- ...- .- .....- ....- ....-. (aa) Leiopteria livis Hall-...... ------ ...--------------------------------.-..------ (a) Styliola fissurella Hall ..-.---......-....-.................-....------ .---- (c) Orthoceras